Last week, I wrote you about how important it is to live in a simple and decent house and how poverty housing is a part of a circle of poverty, which seems to condemn those who are caught in it to a marginal existence. There are twelve houses now being built in Palmeira with the intention of helping people in need to jump out of this circle, by taking them out from spaces where appalling poverty hides them from the world.

Taking into consideration the extent to which a decent house can change a person�s life, the Palmeira project of the Associa�ao Humanit�ria Habitat � in accordance with one of the main principles of Habitat from Humanity International � was elaborated in order to take as much advantage of this fact as possible. The aim, therefore, is to create hope, create future, but also create a community spirit. The way to do it is through a very special way of working. In Palmeira, construction experts, volunteers and future homeowners work together. Volunteer work, international and national, essential (and at this point of construction, terribly necessary) has received considerable coverage by the media, but every Saturday, they are joined by the families. The result of putting together this peculiar team, especially with the involvement of future homeowners, is not only the love for the house that seems to grow out of the sweat that is left behind, but essentially, the effort that everybody puts in the building of each other�s house � since no one known until dedication which house is which.

People that hardly knew each other before, but that soon will be neighbours, have not only the time to get to know each other, but to help each other too. As such, a certain spirit of neighbourhood is created even before the neighbourhood really exists. Northern Ireland is there to show what can be achieved with this simple idea: the affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International in that region contributes to peace-building by joining Catholics and Protestants in the common project of the construction of their houses. And it is very successful.

It is necessary to bear in mind that Habitat for Humanity International is not a new association, but that it has already twenty five years of experience in fighting for the elimination of poverty housing around the globe. Associa��o Humanit�ria Habitat is drawing out of this experience, and its challenge is to find the best ways of adopting it to the country�s ways of thinking and living.

This long experience allows for the Palmeira project to think ahead in �minor� details that, at the end, determine the success or failure of a humanitarian project. Some of these details depend only on the association, others depend on the co-operation of other associations, and others, finally, depend on the willingness of the homeowners themselves. People who are receiving the houses. I explain:

Co-operation of other associations or individuals determines the potential future support for homeowners. In other countries, there are examples of help on the most various forms, from voluntary lessons in basic schooling (to those who don�t know how to write and read) to short lessons on house-keeping and repair (many times it happens that it is the first time a family has a bathroom).

In Palmeira, for instance, the Associa��o Humanit�ria Habitat is trying to encourage families to create an association of their own that allows them to keep communication in between them. This will be very important to keep the bonds that they are now being created in between them, as well as for, in the future, help future Habitat families. Their experience, doubts, fears, are precious and no one can do better counselling.